Part I: Sticking Your Neck Out

Apologies for not posting so much recently as we have been busy trying to sort out things for the future and we have been practicing Nijushiho and Gojushiho-Dai. I would like to write up a technical report on this later, but frankly at shodan I am not competent to comment on either of these kata really. I can write up how Ibusuki Sensei teaches them, but I am sure this will cause trouble!


Also we are very excited about Oleg Larionov (online name is Oleg Takumi)* who is coming on Sunday to film Ibusuki Sensei for posterity. Yuko and I have maintained a great friendship with Oleg over the years and we were very complemented that he wanted to interview Ibusuki Sensei for the record. As one of or the only (I can't verify this, so I won't stick my neck out) student of Funakoshi Sensei still teaching Karate, this man, we think, is an living piece of Karate history.


OK this blog is going to be in two parts. In this Part I: Sticking Your Neck Out... I will stick my neck out and relay some of Ibusuki's commentary on Karate. In Part II: Not Sticking Your Neck Out, I will talk about a simple revelation I had that is really helping me recover my form. But I'm so thick, and it's so obvious, you've probably guessed what it is anyway.

So this entry is all about sticking your neck out, and the next one is about doing the opposite. And what the hell, eh? When I see moronic statements like "Today I saw true oi-zuki." think these people need to get out more often!

Returning to Ibusuki Sensei, his opinions on Karate are bound to stir the pot and I am sure that there are many who won't welcome his perspective. Harry must be laughing his way all through the miserable northern winter though ;-).

In a nutshell Ibusuki Sensei feels that the JKA really destroyed Funakoshi Sensei's Shotokan Karate when it introduced competition.

Don't misunderstand, Ibusuki Sensei was personally retaught the Nakayama Sensei "instant orthodox" Kata and personally great respected Nakayama Sensei. But it ain't what Ibusuki Sensei learned!
However, Shotokan needed a brand, and identity, and standardization, so Nakayama Sensei basically stuffed what was a very different Shotokan into a rigid Japanese box.

Deforming Kata to fit Nakayama Sensei's ideas of what Japanese orthodox Karate should be, including the nonsense of having to end up in the same place is fine as a training tool for Ibusuki Sensei.

But he believes that much modern Karate is a very deformed and stunted version of the original art; that Shotokan Karate is really a different beast. In fact, Ibusuki Sensei finds modern Karate ridiculously oversimplified.
Main issues:
- The cult of oi-zuki and maegeri as ippon attacks. Karate is a fluid art, with many different attacks from different angles
- The cult of ichigeki-hisatsu: this is particularly wrong because keeping at multiple techniques was of primary importance. Without strong ippon waza, Karate is ineffective. However it is a distortion to teach the idea of ichigeki-hisatsu in a modern context. In fact, when it comes to using Karate in a modern context, technique should be mastered so as to cause the minimum effective damage.
- The cult of extreme hanmi and shomen that was introduced as a training tool by the JKA, but has been turned into some cult-like fetish that totally alien to original Karate...

...I myself have seen a picture of a supposedly perfect deep oi-zuki with hips NOT in shomen, that is advertised by some as a "true" oi-zuki. What is this, North Korea or something?!

But some of these are straw men easy to shoot down out of context, so I'll try to explain in more detail in a different post.

To escape from the rigid ideas of younger Japanese....this is why Ibusuki Sensei was so happy to see Andre Bertel Sensei back earlier this year. Ibusuki Sensei considered Asai Sensei as the most talented and innovative Karateka of his generation, and probably of post-War Shotokan. He said to me last week:

"I was very disappointed by the differences that emerged in Asai Sensei's JKA. Frankly, most people thought that Mr. Matsuno's JKA would win, because all the really talented Karateka were with Asai Sensei, while the other side were very good, but lacked that genius element."

So when Andre Bertel Sensei started running around showing Asai Sensei's techniques, it was like a breath of fresh air for Ibusuki Sensei (and certainly for Yuko and I).

OK, I have to get back to work, so the next installment will be a very different kind of beast...soemthing like a tortoise, I predict.
Yoroshiku, Paul.

Back in the Saddle- Andre Bertel Inspires Ibusuki Sensei's Return!

Well Yuko and I are already getting excited about this- Ibusuki Sensei, 80 years young, has decided to start teaching again tomorrow and we just can't wait!

This is a long post, so bear with me. I have only just started collecting my thoughts on a number of issues after a long break, so I am breaching many themes that I will attempt to come back and revisit in more logical and digestible forms later. But I am having so much fun at the prospect of returning to training...

First of all, for those of you who don't know and care about these things, Ibusuki Sensei is one of the very few living Karateka who was taught by Gichin Funakoshi.

In Ibusuki Sensei's case it was at the (then) famous Waseda University Karate Club, one of the elite clubs that formed the early hubs of Shotokan Karate before the war. In the post-war chaos, the university clubs played a key role in maintaining a network of sempai and kohai in loose alliances that was the reality of Shotokan Karate before the JKA took over. As for Ibusuki Sensei himself, he rose to become captain of Waseda Karate Club, then after a few years, "retired," built a business, got rich, and then was invited back to Karate by Nakayama Sensei, who personally taught him the "JKA 26" Kata. After teaching off and on in the JKA, Ibusuki "retired" again, until Yahara Sensei (they are old friends) invited him back to teach at the KWF, so people could get a flavor of what Funakoshi Sensei's Shotokan Karate was like. Then last year Ibusuki Sensei retired again on doctors orders to take it easy for a while.

So what's tempted Ibusuki Sensei out of retirement again? Well, to cut a long story short- two words:

Andre Bertel

In the video Andre Bertel Sensei posted, you can't actually see Ibusuki Sensei, who came to teach the second session on Sunday. But he was there on the second day and he was so impressed by Andre he said that he'd like to come back to teaching again!

With so many people out there with moderate, sometimes very moderate, sometimes ok Karate passing themselves off as "Japan trained" or "Shihan" (a word that is rarely used by real Japanese instructors, the vast majority of whom are fine with plain old "Sensei," including YS) it's difficult to get a sense of really how great Andre Bertel's Karate is. I am afraid that while my own Karate is a very poor shodan level, I know what I like.

So I view Karate in terms of how it measures up to the standards of my main teachers- those being in date order: Richard Amos Sensei, (briefly, for one year, Koike Yutaka Sensei): the wonderful, wonderful Kawasaki Norio Sensei (Ibuki Tawara Sensei as partner) Otsuka Masamichi Sensei, Ibuki Tawara Sensei, and last but definitely not least of course Isaka Akihito and Yahara Mikio Senseis. I've also been taught by Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei- now that was just magic!- Abe Keigo Sensei and once, memorably, by Tamon Pemba Sensei, although he mainly seemed interested in beating my rear leg with a shinai ;-).

Having spent four years week in, week out in the KWF black belt class with YS breathing down my neck, and I mean literally, scary, like feeling you are the Turkey and tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I just about managed to struggle to be able to cope with some basic elements of Karate.

"Haita!!!!" (for all you IS students out there!)

So Yuko and I were intrigued when Andre Bertel Sensei said he would like to come up and "train with us" in our private sessions in Shibuya this January. As Ibusuki Sensei was feeling a lot better for six months rest, we decided to ask him if he was interested in watching. He said "yes," and also invited some good friends- Nick and Takane, Scott, Pieter "I bring screwdriver" Van Wyk along for the ride. We figured any person willing to pay to come up to "train with us" deserved a turn out.

So how does Andre's Karate measure up? Well, let me put it this way. In a word, it's awesome. Takes your breath away!

To say we were impressed would be the understatement of my 12-year Karate career (still wobbling down the track while the rest have already packed up and headed for the bar). We were shocked by just how good Andre is. His Karate is brimming with power and energy and danger. Andre has what I would call the Yahara factor- when he puts on a dogi, you can sort of feel that "brimming over" energy that's inspiring. You could call him a walking, talking Karate weapon.

On the other hand, Andre is a gentleman, although it's plain that he doesn't suffer fools and frauds lightly, as I have noticed on his recent Facebook forays ;-).

Andre's long experience of teaching all-comers and running successful dojos means that he has the ability that some Japanese teachers don't have, and that's what I would call multitasking.

By way of background, I used to go off translating for YS on foreign seminars, and he'd have the same problem time and time again. The local Karate organization would be looking for insights into Unsu or something, but YS would take one look at the Karate and realize you had "5th dans" with kyu level kihon. So there is a lot of misunderstanding out there with Japanese Sensei teaching abroad when the Japanese Sensei spends a lot of time on kihon. It's because he's instantly understood that the local Karate organization is doing what YS calls "copy Karate." Which is a polite way of saying their Karate is crap. Unfortunately foreigners who have quid pro quo kodans, which I will call KKs (Kitanai Kodans) and run their local Karate empires based on money don't like this, so they tend to invite Japanese Sensei over who will give them what they want, not what they need.

Andre, however, obviously has that ability to be able to recognize what different people need and tailor his approach accordingly. So you have a highly intelligent teacher who actually has killer Karate. It's enough to make you weep! Thank the Karate Lord that such people exist! Of course, KWF has its own home-grown talent in the younger generation- for example the magnificent Bryan Dukas Sensei, who I would say is the Yahara Karate equivalent to Andre's Asai Karate. And then the KWF has its latest weapon waiting in the wings, Ibuki Tawara! It is said that Ibuki Tawara is developing Monster Karate. Clearly in terms of magnificent Yahara Karate Dukas and Tawara Senseis are the guys to watch! Dukas Sensei is also one of the few elite Senseis who can walk the walk who also understand IS karate too. Great!!!

Anyway, back to Andre and Ibusuki Senseis. When he came to teach us, he thought he might run through some Asai Sensei moves and Asai-Ryu kata.

All I can say that it was just magnificent- eye opening stuff. It was so good it still makes me laugh thinking about it now. In terms of lesson dynamics, we found Andre teaching logically and systematically in an intelligent and positive fashion, meeting the needs of people in various stages of their Karate careers and skill and ability levels. In reality, this means that Andre could teach Asai-Ryu Shotokan Karate to Nick at 3-dan level (Nick is talented and has physical ability) and Paul at Donkey Shodan (Paul has no talent and no physical ability, but has doryoku) and we all felt we got something out of it. Behind that, he was dynamic, inspiring, funny, self-deprecating, scary and FUN.

On one basic level, what I am trying to say is can Andre walk the walk as well as talk the talk. The answer is a gigantic

YES

that should be placed in bloody great monumental stone blocks the ancient Egyptians used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The other point is though as Ibusuki Sensei was watching the second session, I could see the old glitter coming back to his eyes. The thing was that much of Asai Sensei's fluid and whipping and snapping, sabaki and kaiten waza are much closer in philosophy to the Shotokan that Ibusuki Sensei remembers before Nakayama Sensei and the JKA started getting all rigid on just about everything. When Ibusuki Sensei taught following Andre's morning session, you could see that there was very much a meeting of minds, especially in terms of fluid motion, whipping and snap, short range fighting and sabaki. Afterwards we all went out for a meal and Ibusuki Sensei told us that he thought Andre had the best Karate he'd seen in 20 years.

Ibusuki Sensei's Return

Privately, Ibusuki Sensei said that after seeing Andre, he'd like to start teaching again. This was three or four months ago, and Yuko and I had to do several other important things before we could get back to Shibuya and re-establish our schedule here. It looks like Ibusuki Sensei will be looking at teaching at least once or twice a month, and more like weekly if he can, so we'll keep you posted.

I do hope to offer some insights into the teaching and approach of this magnificent gentleman going forward, for the record, and for posterity, before this particular part of living Karate history moves on. I hope this blog will be of interest to some of you.

Ossu,

Paul (and Yuko).